Rays prospect Sanchez has more than bat

PORT CHARLOTTE, Fla. -- Jesus Sanchez was at his brother’s house in the Dominican Republic when he got a surprising text from his agent.

“I was just wondering what was going on,” Sanchez said.

Sanchez, who is the Rays' No. 4 prospect according to MLB Pipeline, was being placed on the 40-man roster by Tampa Bay in order for the team to protect him from potentially getting picked by another organization during the Rule 5 Draft in December.

“I wasn’t expecting that,” the outfielder said in Spanish. “I went to the academy, and then they called me and told me they thought I was really special. That hit me really hard.”

Receiving the news with his brother was just how Sanchez wanted it to happen. His brother, Nerva, is the one who helped him fall in love with the game at an early age, and he is the reason why Sanchez hits from the left side of the plate, despite being right-handed.

“I was really excited,” Sanchez said on getting the news. “I wasn’t expecting it and neither was he. We were just like, ‘I can’t believe this.'”

This spring is the first time Sanchez is part of the 40-man roster, but it isn’t the first time the Rays' coaching staff has had the opportunity to see him in games. Last Spring Training, Sanchez flashed his big smile around the field, going 3-for-7 with a double and a triple. On Tuesday, Sanchez displayed some power, launching a three-run home run off Baltimore’s Jay Flaa.

“He likes to hit and he can hit, that’s for sure,” Rays manager Kevin Cash said. “I was impressed the other night in Fort Myers with the defense. He ran down two balls. One of them, off the bat I didn’t think there was any chance, and he ran it down. He made a great throw. Everybody talks about the hitting, but to see him play defense has been really nice.”

At Class A Advanced Charlotte last season, Sanchez had a .301/.331/.462 slash line before being called up to Double-A Montgomery for the last 27 games of his season. He struggled in Montgomery, hitting .214 in 98 at-bats, but he felt he was able to make the necessary adjustments toward the end of the season that will help him moving forward.

“They were throwing me a lot of breaking balls, and I wanted to swing at every pitch,” Sanchez said. “It didn’t matter if it was a fastball, changeup or curveball, I just wanted to swing at it. And that’s not how it works.

“I didn’t have that plan in Double-A. I was only thinking of hitting, and I wasn’t thinking about the plan. Once I went back to having a plan, that helped me a lot.”

Hitting for more power is something the Rays are hoping to see out of the 21-year-old. Sanchez had just 11 home runs last season, but he continues to fill out his frame. He added 12 more pounds during the offseason and now stands at 230 pounds. Sanchez still wants to get stronger, but he says he feels comfortable at that weight.

Sanchez knows he won’t be on the Opening Day roster, and it’s unknown if he makes his big league debut in 2019. But being on the 40-man roster has given him some extra motivation.

“What I want is to continue to improve and do what I know how to do, which is play baseball,” Sanchez said. “Those things motivate me. I want to learn and just keep getting better.”